Brazil's Folha and UOL partner with OpenAI to feed ChatGPT

In a pioneering move for Brazil, the prominent newspaper Folha de São Paulo and the online news portal UOL have entered into an agreement with OpenAI. This partnership will see their journalistic content used to enhance ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI.

The collaboration aims to provide ChatGPT users worldwide with more up-to-date and trustworthy responses concerning Brazilian reality. Reports and real-time news from Folha and UOL will be integrated to enrich ChatGPT's answers with verified journalistic information of local relevance.

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Folha and UOL are among the most relevant sources of original journalism in Brazil, and incorporating their content into ChatGPT will allow us to offer responses that are more useful, timely, and locally relevant.

OpenAI stated the partnership seeks to improve user access to timely and contextualized information, while maintaining a direct connection between media outlets and their audiences. For Folha de São Paulo, one of Brazil's largest newspapers by subscriber count, this agreement also concludes a legal dispute initiated in 2025 against OpenAI over the unauthorized use of its journalistic content.

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The interest of a technology company like OpenAI reaffirms the value of professional journalism.

Varun Shetty, vice president of media alliances at OpenAI, recognized Folha and UOL as crucial sources of original journalism in Brazil. He emphasized that incorporating their content into ChatGPT will lead to "more useful, timely, and locally relevant" responses. Sérgio Dávila, Folha's editor-in-chief, views the interest from a major tech company like OpenAI as a validation of professional journalism's value.

Furthermore, the agreement includes provisions for Folha and UOL to access OpenAI's corporate tools. This will enable them to explore AI applications within their editorial products and internal newsroom processes. Carlos Ponce de León, co-president of Folha de São Paulo, believes AI will shape the future of journalism and that this agreement positions Folha at the forefront of this transformation, fostering new ways to expand the reach and impact of reliable journalism.

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Artificial intelligence will define the next era of journalism, and Folha wants to help shape that future. The agreement places us at the forefront of that transformation and allows us to create new ways to expand the reach, relevance, and impact of reliable journalism.